manaus time series is of class "rts" and has 1080 observations on
one variable.The data values are monthly averages of the daily stages (heights) of the Rio Negro at Manaus. Manaus is 18km upstream from the confluence of the Rio Negro with the Amazon but because of the tiny slope of the water surface and the lower courses of its flatland affluents, they may be regarded as a good approximation of the water level in the Amazon at the confluence. The data here cover 90 years from January 1903 until December 1992.
The Manaus gauge is tied in with an arbitrary bench mark of 100m set in the steps of the Municipal Prefecture; gauge readings are usually referred to sea level, on the basis of a mark on the steps leading to the Parish Church (Matriz), which is assumed to lie at an altitude of 35.874 m according to observations made many years ago under the direction of Samuel Pereira, an engineer in charge of the Manaus Sanitation Committee Whereas such an altitude cannot, by any means, be considered to be a precise datum point, observations have been provisionally referred to it. The measurements are in metres.
Sternberg, H. O'R. (1987) Aggravation of floods in the Amazon river as a consequence of deforestation? Geografiska Annaler, 69A, 201-219.
Sternberg, H. O'R. (1995) Waters and wetlands of Brazilian Amazonia: An uncertain future. In The Fragile Tropics of Latin America: Sustainable Management of Changing Environments, Nishizawa, T. and Uitto, J.I. (editors), United Nations University Press, 113-179.